No Means Next: How You Can Use Rejection To Stay Motivated

Rejection sucks. We likely all began dealing with rejection by about the age of two. No, you can’t play with that toy. No, you can’t do that at the dinner table. No, you can’t have that piece of candy, again… As we get older that rejection can sound like, No, you can’t be my friend. No, I don’t want to date you. No, I don’t want to marry you. No, I don’t want to hire you…

Rejection can be hard, especially if you're a normally introverted person or a known people-pleaser. And since we have all experienced it at some point in our lives, it should get easier, right? Maybe it just gets easier once you have a different mindset – or meaning -- around it.

Once you can give that rejection a new meaning, and I realize that is not always easy, it does make that No feel less painful. When I changed my feelings around the word No, a lot of things in my business shifted.

"When I changed my feelings around the word “no”, a lot of things in my business shifted." More:

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I changed No to Next.

This switch was beneficial for many reasons, some of them clearly obvious. But, the best result from changing my language around No took me by surprise.

In business we often hear, “Don’t take it personally, this is just business.” And that’s true, except for when it is personal. “We don’t like you, so we’re not going to hire you.” How does that not feel personal?

When I started adopting No means Next into my body, every No I got actually became a No to them, not to me! Because, as soon as my mind said, “Next!” I was already passed the “pain” of rejection. Next allowed me to move on more quickly, to look at the very next lead as a viable and exciting opportunity to become a new client.

No means Next is kinda like the math equation, “A + B does not always = C.” You can feel like you’ve done everything right: a fabulous website, excellent messaging, a solid community on social media, a unique service offering – and despite all that effort, you still don’t get to C, that coveted Yes. You still get the No.

But, after adopting the mantra of No means Next, bouncing back can happen pretty quickly. And the faster you can move down the list of prospects, the faster you can find that next gig, the one that is a mutual YES.

And when that impact happens, and when your business starts to take off that No will be forgotten. Not only will you have happily moved right onto Next, but being in perfect harmony with a client whom you are on the same page as will make you think “YES!”

No rejection could feel better than that kind of YES.

To learn more about Gretchen, visit her website: http://www.gretchenbreuner.com/